The Learning Future Podcast with Louka Parry

Why would a country cut 25 - 50% of its curriculum from schools? And what are the most powerful learning experiences to place in this new space of autonomy? Discover what Portugal is doing at a National level to build future skills through social emotional development programs from one of its chief architects of change. In this episode Louka speaks with Pedro Cunha, who served as Deputy Director-General for Education in Portugal across four governments (2010-2017), where he was responsible for school improvement, ECEC, early school leaving, Health and Wellbeing, Inclusive Education, Curricula Enrichment, Psychology and support services. Pedro is now Director of the Gulbenkian Program for Knowledge at the Gulbenkian Foundation, and holds a Degree, Masters and Ph.D (ongoing) in the Psychology of Education. He started his career as a school psychologist, and as coordinator of social innovation programs on substance abuse, community development and social exclusion, was Program Director and Head of Education at the Aga Khan Foundation Portugal (2003-2010) and taught at Teachers College (2008-10).He has worked as expert at the European Commission, UN, UNICEF and the OECD. He is part of a Think Tank at the National Professional Association of Psychologists and an Observatory at the University of Minho.

Ross Hall is strategist with a fixation on transforming education into thriving learning ecosystems. He is currently co-lead of the Jacobs Foundation’s Learning Societies Portfolio, jacobsfoundation.org, which creates trustful and dynamic communities using evidence based resource allocation. Based in Zurich, Switzerland. Ross Hall co-founded The Weaving Lab that aims to advance leadership practices that are prerequisites to creating and sustaining learning ecosystems, healthy interdependence, and ultimately universal wellbeing. See more at https://weavinglab.org.

What routines and methods do you use to innovate? And how can you design for more creativity and experience idea flow? In this episode, Louka speaks with Perry Klebahn and Jeremy Utley who lead Stanford University's d.school Executive Education. We cover innovation, learning, leadership and the concept of Ideaflow: an experience built on discrete repeatable practices that can increase your creativity and a forthcoming book. Take a listen to hear how you can become more creative in the way you contribute at work, in school and in society and check out https://www.ideaflow.design.On our guests: When it comes to startups, corporations and executive leadership, Perry’s seen just about everything. He's a seasoned entrepreneur, product designer, chief executive and co-founding member of the d.school faculty with over 20 years of experience. He also loves math, motorcycles and making things. Perry brought two out of three of those interests to bear when he created a new category of sportswear by way of a high-performance shoe — a snowshoe — for his product design master’s thesis. He went on to found the Atlas Snowshoe Company, which remains the leader in snowshoe design and technology. Perry sold Atlas and became the head of Sales and Marketing for the clothing brand, Patagonia in 2000. He then went on to be named the CEO of the iconic bag company, Timbuk2 in 2007. Both opportunities gave him extensive experience in brand turn-around, design and innovation. Despite his years running startups and corporations, Perry’s true calling is teaching. He leverages the breadth and depth of his experience as he pushes his students to bring rigor and precision to their fast-paced design work. His students often tell him that, while they were intimidated by him during the course, they're grateful for the pressure he placed on them to exceed their own expectations. Perry is a founding teaching team member for the d.school’s startup gauntlet class, Launchpad, the innovation leadership course, d.leadership and the week-long executive education intensive, Bootcamp. He is also on the teaching teams for the personal development course, Designer in Society and the organizational change course, d.org. In every class, Perry guides his students to look back in order to discover what to do next and works from the unshakeable belief that it’s always possible to see a problem differently.Perry is an Adjunct Professor and Director of Executive Education at the d.school. He holds a B.A. in Physics from Wesleyan University (1988) and a Master’s degree in Product Design from Stanford University (1991).Jeremy never expected to be a designer. On his 10th birthday, his father asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Jeremy replied,”I want to be one of the people who carry boxes with handles.” A little over a decade later, Jeremy became a briefcase-carrying management consultant focusing on economic development. Then, in 2008, d.school derailed him completely. His time as a student and a fellow at the d.school showed him that “how” he worked was more important than “what” he did. Today, Jeremy is dedicated to helping others along the same path to becoming a designer. He helps people change their deeply-engrained behaviors and discover, as he did, that it is possible for them to make a difference. He does this through teaching as well as through growing alongside his students to become better in his own life and work every day.Jeremy is the Director of Executive Education at the d.school. He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin’s Red McComb’s School of Business (2005) and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2009).

Rajika Bhandari is a scholar and practitioner in international higher education, Dr. Bhandari's work has spanned the nonprofit, private and higher education sectors across 22 countries. She is also a widely published author and speaker on issues of international education, the global competition for talent, skilled immigrants, and educational and cultural diplomacy. She is the founder of Rajika Bhandari Advisors, offering strategic guidance to nonprofits, multilateral organizations, and higher education institutions around the world, and also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. She is author of the forthcoming book, America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility.A product of international education herself, Dr. Bhandari was educated in India and the U.S. and now lives outside New York City. Learn more about her work at: www.rajikabhandari.com

How might we better understand and embrace diversity so that it leads to greater intercultural communication and empathy? In a world of so much challenge and conflict through division, what is the role of education to create peace?In today's episode, Louka speaks with Peter Mousaferiadis, an internationally recognised thought leader of culture as a driver of peace and innovation. Before founding Cultural Infusion in 2002, Peter had an extensive career in the arts as a creative director, producer, artistic director, music director, composer, and intercultural dialogue champion. He is an expert in intercultural understanding and has produced major intercultural productions for the United Nations, the Parliament of World Religions, and the United Religions Initiative. His latest initiative is Diversity Atlas, which provides deep insights into organisational workforce and unlock the potential of diversity.

In a world where childhood has migrated online, what must we know and teach our students and children to keep them safe and help them be successful in this digital world? In today's episode, Louka speaks with Nicholas Carlisle; a changemaker, lawyer and champion for social justice and children's well-being. He is CEO of the Power of Zero, a global campaign to reshape early learning for an increasingly connected world, by teaching young children the skills and values that they need. The campaign brings together leaders in technology with experts in children and NGOs around the world. Nicholas graduated in philosophy and ancient history from Oxford University, worked as a barrister in Lincoln’s Inn and served as chairman of the Amnesty International UK. He has practiced as a child and family psychotherapist, and founded and led No Bully, a US based non-profit with the mission to eradicate bullying and cyberbullying worldwide. He has been recognised by Toms as a Game Changer, Ashoka as a Champion of Children’s Wellbeing and by Hearts on Fire as a visionary.

How might we reconcile the human species with the natural environment through excellent design?This week on The Learning Future podcast, we speak with Ewan McEoin, Hugh D.T Williamson Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture at the NGV. We discuss the power of design to transcend pure aesthetics and ergonomics to include the political, social and ecological contexts in which things emerge. What are the consequences of our design choices, and how do we make the true cost of choice visible? Ewan takes us through increased transparency, empathy through an object, educating educators around design, and how we can support all people to be designers. Everyone can have a go at coming up with a better way of doing something. Ewan McEoin is Hugh D.T Williamson Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture at the NGV. His role at the NGV includes collecting, advocating, and curating exhibitions, including solo, survey and thematic exhibitions. Key projects include the NGV Triennial (2017 and 2020), the annual NGV Architecture Commissions program (2015 – 2020) and the annual Melbourne Design Week program, Australia’s leading international design festival. Ewan comes to the NGV after two decades of working in design strategy, curating and publishing. He is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Design and the Social Context at RMIT University and a member of the Board of the Robin Boyd Foundation.

What does the future of productivity look like? And how does it influence the shape of organisations?This week on The Learning Future podcast, we speak with Dr Amantaha Imber, founder of Inventium and in 2019 one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence. Packed with insights and research, Amantha journeys with us as we explore designing organisations for deep work and greater job satisfaction. Using self-determination theory, OKRs, holacracy, the four-day working week and different chronotypes, we discuss how we might enable organisations for the future of productivity.Dr Amantha Imber is an organisational psychologist and founder of behavioural science consultancy Inventium. Amantha is also the co-creator of the Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative Companies list and the AFR BOSS Best Places to Work list. Amantha has helped companies such as Google, Apple, Disney, LEGO, Atlassian, the Commonwealth Bank and many others innovate more successfully and reinvent the way they approach their work.In 2019, Amantha was named as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence. Amantha is also the host of the number one ranking business podcast How I Work, which has had over 2 million downloads, where she interviews some of the world’s leading innovators about their habits, rituals and strategies for structuring their day.Amantha’s thoughts have appeared in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Entrepreneur and Fast Company and she is the author of two best-selling books: “The Creativity Formula” and “The Innovation Formula”.

How might we put humanity at the centre stage of education?This week on The Learning Future Podcast, we speak with Sarah Mercer, Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria, where she is Head of ELT methodology. We discuss how we might extend the cognitive component of empathy to develop critical thinking and critical reflection, how structures create inequitable contexts, and how self-efficacy and agency within education may lead to a richer human ecosystem.Professor Sarah Mercer's research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience and the purpose of education, and the role of social-emotional learning, wellbeing and compassion. In short, how we make our education systems more human. She is the author of many books, most recently Teacher wellbeing and Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Sarah has also been a principal investigator on various funded research projects and serves on numerous editorial boards.

How might we support every young person to be prepared for the present and ready for their future?This week on The Learning Future Podcast, we speak with Professor Michael Anderson, an internationally recognised educational leader who has taught, researched, and published in education and transformation for over 20 years. We discuss how we might support every young person to have the opportunity for collaboration, critical reflection, communication and creativity to harness their present. How integrating the whole learning experience can inform our understanding of curriculum rather than a syllabus and that we change is possible, and transformation is achievable. Professor Michael Anderson is an internationally recognised educational leader, having taught, researched and published in education and transformation for over 20 years, including 13 books and many journal articles, and is currently at the University of Sydney. His international research and practice focuses on how the 4Cs (collaboration, critical reflection, communication and creativity) can be integrated, using coherent frameworks to meet the learning needs of 21st Century learners.His latest book is 'Transforming Education Reimagining Learning, Pedagogy and Curriculum', which takes a future-oriented re-imagining of schools focusing on innate human capacities: collaboration, critical reflection, communication and creativity.